Michael come's for a visit

Michael and Oretta arrived in Ireland on the 20th. Unfortunately, he already leaves next Tuesday to return to the US. We traveled to Scotland for 5 days and thoroughly enjoyed it. We stayed in Edinburgh, visited the castle, did all of the Royal Mile and went through Holyrood Palace at the end of the mile. The castle was amazing and we were able to see where King James I/VI was born. The crown jewels of Scotland and the "Stone of Scone" (which the Scots pronounce scoon). Amazing history to be seen in the city. Most of the buildings are covered in black soot and one would assume that its from modern pollution. Infact, during the last 2 centuries (pre-electricity), every building burnt coal in 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As a result there was always a black cloud hanging over the city and the city was known as the
"Reek", they still call the fog that rolls in the "Reek". We did not have any fog while we were there and it only rained the last day and a half. It was very windy and cold though. Rather like SF in the summer. Holyrood Palace is where the current Royal Family stay when they are in Edinburgh and was quite beautiful. We got to see Queen Mary's chambers and lots of her personal belongings. It included the spot where her secretary was killed by her husband and his freinds. The palace is literally built into the remains of the Holyrood Abbey. It was amazing to see where this was done. We also did a couple of the standard other "touristy" tours. The best was "The Real Mary Kings Close" in underground Edinburgh there still exist homes from the 16th and 17th century that have literally been built on top of. Pretty amazing stuff. Edinburgh itself reminded me culturally in many ways of San Francisco. Very diverse population, Starbucks every 2-3 blocks and fabulous food. We found the most amazing Italian Restaurant and ended up eating there 2 nights in a row. Michael hooked up with the bartender from the local pub (down the street from our B&B) and went out for a night on the town with him. Stumbled in just about daylight. He said it was really wonderful and he really likes the Scots.
Adrian and I spent about 5 hours in the National Museum - all of the Musuems are free - return trips will happen. The National Museum hows a version of the entire history of Scotland and we probably could have spent a further 5 hours there, but I got tired. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting an overview begining in the bronze age up through the industrial revolution and the 20th century.

We went to Stirling Castle (I have always wanted to see) as that is where Queen Mary was born and crowned. It was even more windswept and lovely than Edinburgh. You could see out to Bannockburn, which is where Robert the Bruce defeated the English in the 1300's and ensured indepence for Scotland. There is also a memorial out there to William Wallce, who our guide told us was the actual person behind Robin Hood. From Stirling we went to Hadrian's Wall which was amazing, and surprisingly actually quite a ways into England. It is very desolute out there and you could certainly see why the Romans complained so bitterly about being posted to the frontier. That was the first time we ran into rain and it was our next to last day in Scotland. Enjoy the photo tour if you have time.


http://flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/


Our next stop will be Paris but that won't be for a couple of weeks. At the end of June. Only finally got the telephone pole put in at our house yesterday. So finally, TV's could be hooked up and I went down to An Phost (the post office) to purchase the licenses. Did I tell you that you are required to have a license to watch TV and we were told for every TV in the home. The lovely post woman only made me buy one. She said in her very Irish accent - "it's need to know and you don't need to tell us how many tvs you've actually got. Nobody will come check." As they cost 160.00 Euro each that was wonderful news for me, because you are required to renew it each year.

Still no broadband at home, so have to go to an internet cafe to get on line. I have to purchase a telephone today, plug it in and call Eircom to order the broadband in order to prove that my phone line is actually working. We had an email several days ago to say that our container should arrive in Cork on 5/31 (tomorrow). I don't know how long it will take to clear customs, but am hoping it means I'll have my household goods next week or the one following. I'll do more pictures of the house showing the mess once everything arrives and then maybe after I get everything set up.

I think that's about all the news for now.

It's been a while

I know I am behind in posting to the blog. We still do not have internet at home - and it has been very busy for the last few weeks. We went to the Cliff's with our Friends the Kozlowski's and then we had our first American visitor. Joseph Hanson-Hirt. We did the medieval banquet at Bunratty Castle with him which was great fun. Joseph and I also went to Craggeaneauwen which is a recreation of Celtic life in the bronze age. The photo's have all been added to flickr. Then last Saturday I flew to Chicago and am now sitting in the airport waiting for the return flight to Shannon. Spent the week catching up with colleagues and working on one of their meetings. It has been great fun and definately a civilized way to work. I am ready to get back to Ireland and realized that I already consider it "home". A very odd awakening for me. Michael and Oretta will arrive on Tuesday and I can't wait. Then we are off to Scotland for 5 days, I am sure I'll have lot's of interesting news to share at that point.

Oops already time to begin the boarding process so I will need to say goodbye for now! (DV like those exclamations points?)